President Lee Jae Myung, accompanied by first lady Kim Hea Kyung, made a guest appearance on the popular JTBC culinary program "Please Take Care of My Refrigerator" to commemorate Chuseok, South Korea's traditional autumn festival. This marked the President's inaugural participation in an entertainment television show during his tenure in office.
The program, broadcast night during the Chuseok festivities, represented President Lee Jae Myung's inaugural participation in an entertainment show since assuming the presidency. Public curiosity about the episode had been building prior to its broadcast, particularly after opponents criticized the decision to film it soon after a nationwide network disruption caused by a fire at a federal data facility in Daejeon.
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During the program, the president, who transitioned from the political sphere to prime-time television, shared with the audience that their objective was to highlight Korean cuisine as an important cultural treasure.
The president's remarks demonstrated his wider initiative to advance Korea's cultural influence through its food, stressing that components like siraegi, dehydrated radish leaves commonly featured in soups, could be marketed and distributed internationally.
“Culture is one of our most important strengths,” Lee said during the broadcast. “K-pop and dramas are vital, but at the heart of it all is food. Once people fall in love with a taste, it rarely fades. That’s why K-food has staying power.”
Identifying braised mackerel with siraegi as his preferred meal prepared by his wife, Lee characterized it as "comfort food that tastes wonderful, contains abundant vitamins, and promotes good health," further noting that "bearing the 'Made in Korea' designation, it represents something we could readily market globally."
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“The samgyetang was excellent,” Lee said, “but the shrimp dish feels more distinctly Korean. It’s easier to store and ship overseas, with more potential for export.”
Lee praised braised mackerel with siraegi as the first lady's signature dish, calling it "a comforting meal that tastes wonderful, contains plenty of vitamins, and promotes good health," while noting that "bearing the 'Made in Korea' mark, it represents something we could readily distribute globally."
The competing chefs received instructions to develop "Korean cuisine for global sharing" and "Korean ingredients for worldwide appreciation: siraegi," resulting in creative interpretations including siraegi pizza and baby shrimp gangjeong, a type of sweetened fried shrimp.
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During the initial competition, the presidential pair selected the shrimp gangjeong instead of an updated version of samgyetang, which is ginseng chicken soup.
The second round pitted a unique pizza dish made with siraegi and nurungji (scorched rice) against siraegi songpyeon, a twist on traditional rice cakes. Sampling the pizza’s lotus-root tempura topping, Lee suggested it could become “a standalone product.” First lady Kim Hea Kyung added a lighter touch, recalling a recent visit to New York where she taught children to make gimbap. “People used to call it sushi,” she said with a laugh. “Now they proudly say gimbap.”